Two days after he called the NAACP a racist organization on Twitter, Utah state Rep. David Lifferth (R) issued a surprisingly thorough and candid apology. While arguing that he had made a joke in “poor taste,” he stated unequivocally: “I have learned a lot in the past few days. The NAACP is not a racist organization. My logic was flawed.”
“I apologize for my insensitive words and hope that people can find it in their hearts to forgive a naïve person that truly does love and care for people of all races and nationalities,” Lifferth wrote in a statement posted on his website. “I have deleted my tweets and hope that they no longer hurt anyone’s feelings.”
Lifferth got attention this week for a series of tweets he wrote Tuesday, four days after the release of a recording featuring Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling making racist comments.
“We should have known Don Sterling was a racist when he gave money to National Association for Advancement of Colored People,” Lifferth wrote, in apparent reference to Sterling’s ties to the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP.
Lifferth followed that tweet up with one saying that “any group that tries to advance specific people based of their race is by definition racist.”
As Lifferth said in his statement Thursday, those tweets have now been deleted. Lifferth — who according to The Salt Lake Tribune once described himself as a “hero of the civil rights movement” — said in his statement that he had grown up “at Ground Zero of the Civil Rights Era.”
“I grew up in a family and was taught by parents to love all people,” Lifferth wrote. “I have been taught much and have a great amount of love and respect for my teachers, classmates, coaches, team captains, teammates, friends, best friends, church members, neighbors, roommates, and family members of all races and ethnic backgrounds.”
Read the full statement here:
I need to publicly apologize for my bad joke about Don Sterling and the NAACP. My joke was in poor taste and insensitive to others. I have learned a lot in the past few days. The NAACP is not a racist organization. My logic was flawed.
For the record, I grew up at Ground Zero of the Civil Rights Era. I grew up in a family and was taught by parents to love all people. I have been taught much and have a great amount of love and respect for my teachers, classmates, coaches, team captains, teammates, friends, best friends, church members, neighbors, roommates, and family members of all races and ethnic backgrounds.
I apologize for my insensitive words and hope that people can find it in their hearts to forgive a naïve person that truly does love and care for people of all races and nationalities. I have deleted my tweets and hope that they no longer hurt anyone’s feelings.
David E. Lifferth
(Photo credit: YouTube/Brian Greene)
